Amid the landscape of Bach's music for solo violin, the Chaconne in D Minor stands out like a lone towering mountain. Ostensibly just one movement of the five that make up the Partita No. 2, it is actually an entire musical masterpiece of its own - vast, all-encompassing and dramatically varied in a way that none of the other movements are.

So it was fitting that the Chaconne marked the magnificent high point of Sunday's solo recital by violinist Christian Tetzlaff. In a performance that gathered together all of the various strengths that had been on display all evening - and skirted the occasional weak points as well - Tetzlaff offered a tour through this one musical utterance that was almost stunning in its eloquence and scope.

Appearing in Davies Symphony Hall as part of the San Francisco Symphony's Great Performers Series, Tetzlaff devoted his program to Bach's six pieces for unaccompanied violin, three sonatas and three partitas. The result was an extended exploration of the composer's range of approaches to writing for the instrument.

In many ways, Tetzlaff, who will stick around San Francisco to appear with the orchestra this week in Bartók's Second Violin Concerto, is an ideal guide through this terrain. His interpretive style is a bit severe, which makes for a well-scrubbed and texturally transparent rendition of the music.

He dollops out sensual pleasure sparingly, but when it arrives - especially during slow music, in the form of rich-hued, warm string harmonies - it is all the more valuable for its scarcity. There's often a kind of rigor in the way he follows Bach's contrapuntal arguments through to their logical conclusions.

Those virtues arose at different spots throughout the 2 1/2-hour event, but never more alluringly than in the D-Minor Chaconne. The piece is an extended series of variations on a harmonic pattern, and its range of reference and technique is a showcase for the skills of composer and performer alike.

Tetzlaff rose powerfully to the challenge. The opening statement of the theme, rendered in robust, rolling chords, staked out the premises of the performance with assurance and tact. The rest of the piece unfolded in a series of vivid but tightly focused variations, each one establishing its own character while still forging an audible connection to the principal theme.

There were other passages of brilliance and vivacity spread throughout the evening. Slow movements in the Sonata No. 2 and the Partita No. 2 found Tetzlaff conjuring up music of extraordinary grace and intensity, and his nimble account of the Partita No. 3 - the lightest and most carefree work of the six - brought the program to a sweet-toned conclusion.

Some of Bach's fugal writing, on the other hand, seemed to present difficulties for him; the intricate counterpoint came with an unwelcome air of strain. And in some of the fastest movements - particularly the final Presto of the Sonata No. 1 - Tetzlaff had a tendency to let the tempo come unleashed.

But none of these concerns diminished the overall success of the recital. And certainly nothing interfered with the lasting memory - still resounding as the crowd emptied out - of the magisterial Chaconne.